NASA found no reason to refuse astronaut flights on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

NASA spokesman Sean Fuller said at the International Astronautical Congress in Baku that the agency sees no need to abandon astronaut flights on Russian Soyuz rockets. He stressed that the use of Soyuz to fly astronauts is an important achievement and NASA looks forward to continuing this practice in the future.

Fuller also noted that Russian cosmonauts are also traveling to the International Space Station (ISS) on American commercial spacecraft. This cooperation is especially important in the event of an emergency evacuation of the entire station crew. He explained that in such cases, when a crew member becomes ill and must return to Earth, regardless of whether it is an American spacecraft or a Russian Soyuz, the entire crew returns to Earth.

Fuller cited an example of successful cooperation with Russia in the field of flights to the ISS, mentioning an expedition that included cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio. They returned to Earth on September 27 aboard the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft after the longest mission to the ISS in history.

In July 2022, Roscosmos and NASA signed an agreement on cross-flights to the ISS, according to which Russian cosmonauts will fly on American Crew Dragon, and American astronauts will fly on Russian Soyuz MS spacecraft. This agreement was reached after the tightening of sanctions against Russia in February 2022, caused by a special military operation in Ukraine. The agreement provides for six flights involving three Russians and three Americans between 2022 and 2024. The program was expanded by one mission in 2023, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin is expected to fly to the ISS as part of the Crew-8 crew in the first half of 2024.